Sleeping Prodigy
by demon m-chan
Summary: Once upon a time there was a prince placed under a dreadful curse; when he grew up, he would prick his finger on a spindle and die. A tale of Sleeping Beauty, fractured with a yaoi twist. Let's just say Fuji's not your average hero...ine. pairings inside
1. Prologue

**The Sleeping Prodigy** by Marla (alternatively known as iceshade or demon m-chan depending on which site this is being posted on) **Prologue**

**Dedicated to a1y puff and tacuma because they inspire me, I love their tezufuji fanfics, and this fractured fairy tale series was their idea first... :sends love and hugs with a shameless pimp: ...read their stuff!**

**Warnings:** sap, AU, crack, fluff, children (in this part), and of course, the GHEY (oh noez)…  
**Rating:** PG-ish for this part  
**Pairings:** TezukaxFuji, hints of Golden Pair, among others which will be revealed later  
**Disclaimer:** I don't have any claims to Prince of Tennis, Konomi-sensei does, and if I _was_ in charge, there would be a lot more canon yaoi... neither do I own _Sleeping Beuty_, the Disney OR the original fairy tale version

**IMPORTANT note:** I mention the characters in the western way, (given name, family name) but refer to them by the name you are most likely to know them by, usually the family name. Also, their last names in this type of fic are not actual family names, but closer to a title i.e., Lord Tachibana is really Lord Kippei of the Tachibana provinces/lands/fiefs/etc. but I call him Lord Tachibana and Prince Niou (or just Niou) is really Prince Masaharu of the Niou Kingdom…

_And yes, I _know_ I took some liberties with this story, along with certain character relationships, but bear with me please, I needed to make it work somehow, I just could not write a fic without one of my favorite doubles pairs, and Fuji is too smart to prick his finger on a spindle just like that. Also, because one of the things that bothers me about Disney/fairy tales is how they always fall in love at first sight based on external appearances, so Fuji can't sleep for 50, 100, 200, whatever, years because otherwise Tezuka would be too old. See, I tried to plug as many plot holes as possible. _

**I wrote every rhyme in this fic, don't steal any of them; I actually put effort into making the phrases really rhyme, keeping the timing right, along with them making sense and fitting the mood**

I kind of let the characters' personalities bounce off one another, and parts of the fic just wrote themselves

oOoOo

**O**nce upon a time in a faraway land, there lived a king and queen, who, like most royal couples, had trouble conceiving. The name of this place was the land of Fuji, and for a long time had family of the current king and queen ruled with fairness and justice, and the people loved them. But still Queen Yoshiko lacked a child. It was their dearest wish to have a son or to continue their line and rule after them, or a daughter whom they could marry to the prince of the neighboring Kingdom of Tezuka and unite the two kingdoms in peace forever as the King had no other siblings to carry on if he died.

At long last, and after many unsuccessful tries, the queen bore a son. The whole land of Fuji was in shock, as all the magicians and other seers had predicted a daughter. All of them, except one: the seer Yumiko, who was the sister of the queen and had never yet been wrong in her predictions. All the preparations had been made, and there was a lavish party prepared for the whole Fuji Kingdom and two of the closer neighboring lands, Tezuka and Niou. As they had expected the baby to be a princess and not a prince, it was also supposed to be an engagement feast, to celebrate the future union of the baby to one of the princes of those kingdoms once the child turned half a year old, and once the queen bore what turned out to be a boy, it was too late to change the invitations.

As was custom for the time, the king and queen invited all the faeries of their land to the celebrations to honor them as the child's godparents, with the hope that they would bless the newborn prince. They commissioned place settings of gold and precious jewels for the faeries as gifts for their use. They knew of eight faeries that called the Kingdom of Fuji home, but they could only locate seven of them. Though once they had located the first faery, who knew everything and everyone, the other six were quickly located, but the last faery either had disappeared from their world, or was living in solitude and secrecy. Besides, the king and queen were told, that particular faery didn't like parties and rarely attended them. So the king and queen set aside a special place setting in case the eighth faery showed up at a later point in time, for they did not want to seem dishonorable or disrespectful, though they sent out no invitation to the last faery.  
The festivities lasted for a week, and all the nobles and royalty of the three kingdoms were in attendance. There were enormous feasts and tournaments with championships and prizes, and many tangible gifts that were exchanged. The whole kingdom was celebrating for they finally had an heir to the throne, and hopefully the great friendship that would grow between their crown prince and the princes of the other lands would lead to a prosperous alliance. There were parades in the streets, and from the richest noble to the poorest commoner there was joyfulness. Even those who could not afford to come to the palace, or make it in time, or fit inside once it got too crowded, were merry and excited.

On the last day of the celebrations the faeries were once again present to present their gifts to the prince, and so were the kings and queens of the Tezuka and Niou Kingdoms with their children. The eldest princes of those kingdoms, Kunimistu and Masaharu, respectively, were only a few years old themselves, but they knew each other well and were looking forward to meeting the person who would be their newest playmate. They stood on their tiptoes and peered over the sides of the newborn prince's cradle with interest.

"That's Prince Syuusuke," a feminine voice said over Niou's shoulders, and the two of them looked up to see Yumiko standing behind him, "he's a very special child with an interesting future, so treat him with care. Had he been born a girl, a princ_ess_, one of you would have been engaged to her." The seer smiled at them, her aquamarine eyes seeming to pierce right through their innocent stares.

Just then, the baby prince, who until then had been sleeping quietly, scrunched up his face and turned over, awaking with a hiccup. The other two princes turned back to the baby in time to see him begin to tear up and ball his hands into fists. Just before he could start to begin an all-out tantrum at awaking to strangers and noise, young Prince Tezuka reached into the cradle to take one of Syuusuke's tiny hands in one of his.

"Don't cry Syuusuke," he said to the baby prince, "we'll protect you. Me and Masaru will be your friends forever."

Syuusuke looked up at the contact to see who was there, and immediately calmed down. Blinking rapidly, his mouth spread into a smile and he gurgled happily, opening his also aquamarine eyes and waving his feet and free hand in the air. Tezuka smiled in response, surprising Yumiko, and both of the slightly older princes said a soft hello to baby Fuji. Prince Niou took Syuusuke's other hand in his and, with a grin, began telling him all the fun things they would be able to do together once he was old enough.

With a nod to the queen by one of the faeries, King Fuji walked over to his son's cradle and gently extracted him from the princes' hands and brought him over to the queen who was sitting nearby. She held him gently, and wrapped him in a blanket, for her long-awaited child was everything to her, and she didn't want anything to happen to him. Princes Kunimitsu and Masaharu followed the king in order to be near their new friend. The faeries flew over from where they had congregated and the large hall fell silent in anticipation, as it was time for them to bless the prince.

All seven of the faeries that had been invited were in attendance, and all were prominent enough that practically all the guests knew who each of them were. They greeted Yumiko amicably, as the seer was more in touch with the world of the Fae than most, and they knew each other, before surrounding the queen and newborn. All of them had translucent dragonfly wings, sparkling clothes, and were carrying golden tennis racquets.

The first faery, who had strange black hair that seemed slicked back in parts and shaved off in others, stepped forward, and he was the obvious leader of them all, as he had previously been watching over all of them like a mother hen. "I am the Faery known to you as Oishi," he announced to the Great Hall, "and I represent all seven of us here in expressing our thanks to the rulers and the people of this kingdom. We wish to each bestow a gift upon the young prince in the hopes that he may grow up to be a King and a person that will make us all proud." He raised his golden racquet, transforming it into a simple golden wand which he held above his head, and intoned:

"_Spirits of Day and beings of Night,_  
_Patrons of Darkness and creatures of Light;_  
_Warriors' peace and guardians' wars_  
_Release the heavens, set forth the stars,_  
_Grant this boon and hear our plea,_  
_Past, present, and future – so mote it be!"_

There was a clap of thunder and Oishi began to glow with a soft light. He waved his wand above Prince Syuusuke, and sparkles fell from the tip to float down and land on the baby, who giggled and tried to grab them from the air. Oishi smiled as he gave the prince his gift.

"_Prince,_ _my gift to you is the gift of splendor. Your beauty shall outshine all others, male or female, and you shall be a vision to all who see you. May you always walk in glory and never want for love._" The glow faded from around Oishi, and he lowered his wand, which turned back into a golden tennis racquet. The king and queen thanked him and he backed away to let the next faery give his gift.

"Ii data," one of the faeries in the corner muttered under his breath, as he scribbled something down in a small notebook, his glasses hiding his eyes from view.

The second faery was an energetic redhead who spent most of his time hanging onto or around Oishi. He introduced himself as Kikumaru, and repeated the same process as Oishi had before him, speaking the enchantment before waving his wand and giving his blessing to the baby.

"_Spirits of Day and beings of Night,_  
_Patrons of Darkness and creatures of Light;_  
_Warriors' peace and guardians' wars_  
_Release the heavens, set forth the stars,_  
_Grant this boon and hear our plea,_  
_Past, present, and future – so mote it be!"_

Kikumaru waited as the sparks began to fly from his wand. "_Prince, my gift to you is the gift of laughter. You shall always have a smile on your face and be able to find the joy in everything; and if you can't you will make it so. May you always find happiness and good humor._"

He too lowered his wand and let it turn back into a golden tennis racquet. Again the King and queen thanked the faery, who stepped aside and bounced over to Oishi so the next faery could give his gift. And so they continued in this pattern for the next four faeries.

The third faery, Kaidoh, gave the prince musical talent; the ability to play any instrument and a voice like angels. The fourth faery, Kawamura, gave the prince grace: a gentle _je ne sais quoi_ and a gentle soul to match his outer grace. The fifth faery, Momoshiro, gave the prince courage; strength of body, mind and heart. The sixth faery, Akutsu, gave the prince justice; the mind of a leader, to be both fair and just, to know both when to lead and how to lead. He glared fiercely at everyone as he gave the gift, though he did not show his anger outwardly to the baby, but it was during the seventh's faery's gift that the pattern really changed.

Inui, the faery who had been muttering to himself and writing in a little notebook off to the side for most of the parties, had just finished giving his gift – great intelligence, wit, cunning, and any other synonym that he said could be thought of – when a loud crack split the Great Hall, and an even deeper silence fell throughout the people as a heavy darkness fell throughout the room. A high, eerie laugh rang out, raising the hairs on the back of everyone's necks.

The darkness cleared almost as fast as it had fallen, like thick fog being blown away by a strong wind, and standing in the middle of the Great Throne Room was a young man dressed mostly in dark purples and blacks. He had a black hat that was pulled down over his eyes, but he too glowed and had a pair of translucent dragonfly wings on his back, but he also wore a long black cape. He removed his hat, revealing a pair of golden, cat-like eyes, and held out his hand, revealing a golden tennis racquet, which instead of turning into a golden wand, turned into a long, golden staff with a crystal ball on the end.

"What is this," he shouted out to the room, "there was a party, and I was not invited!? There were tournaments, and I was not given the opportunity to play in them!? You call all the faeries of the land, and yet I am not counted among them to be given honor!? How dare you!"

"Ii data," Inui muttered, once again scribbling in his notebook, and was promptly smacked by Kaidoh.

"Please Your Honor," the king pleaded, coming to the front and kneeling before the faery; "we meant no disrespect, honestly, we were told that you did not like parties, and no one could locate you to send you an invitation anyway. Had we known, we most certainly would have found a way."  
"Silence!" the faery roared, "you insult the great Echizen with your words! I too have a gift for the newborn prince, and I am certain it will make his life more interesting."

"We are sorry, Great Echizen," the queen cried out, clutching her now crying infant son even tighter to her chest, "had we known—"

"Had this, had that, had everything," he interrupted her, "ah, Karupin," he said slowly to the fuzzy cat on his shoulder, "what should be the response to such an outrage? Do they really deserve it?"

Raising both his hands above his head, along with the staff, a cloud of energy formed in the crystal on the top as he began to speak again:

"Of course they do._ Prince, it is true, you shall always know love and laughter and courage, and your life shall be full of joy and grandiose, and all the other gifts you have been given. There will be no puzzle you will not be able to solve, you shall be loved by all as long as you live, and even the mighty will tremble before you. Until the time comes for you to reach adulthood. My gift to you is this, little prince; your life shall be full of all this for it will end when the time comes for you to be considered a true man._" Echizen looked around the room and noticed a tapestry of beautifully spun silk. "_By the night of your seventeenth birthday, you will have pricked your finger on a spindle and you will die. But it shall not be quick. You shall endure a full day of immeasurable pain before finally succumbing to true death. And all present now, will be present to watch you break._"

"No!" A small voice rang out, halting Echizen in his tracks, "no! You can't!" Echizen looked down to see the young Prince Masaharu of the Niou kingdom standing in front of the queen with his arms outstretched, his eyes burning with anger, and his silver hair in disarray. "You can't do this to the prince, I won't let you! He's my friend and I'm going to protect him. Echizen gave a cruel smile, his lip curling upwards, revealing teeth sharper than any human's.

"I'd like to see you try." He reached out his free hand in front of him and muttered a few words under his breath. A ball of glowing, crackling energy formed in his palm, and he threw it at Masaharu. It speed through the air and struck the prince directly on the chest. Masaharu was thrown backwards into the wall, which he hit with a sickening crack. Kunimitsu broke free of his mother's restraining grasp at her shock, and ran over to his unmoving friend as Echizen laughed. "You shouldn't have interfered, boy," he said as everyone but the king and queen of Fuji and a few others rushed over to the fallen prince. Kikumaru threw himself into Oishi's embrace and buried his face in his beloved's chest, refusing to admit something like this was truly happening as Oishi rubbed soothing hand's up and down the redhead's back.

Echizen moved his staff in the air in a circular motion, letting the energy in his staff swell before he finally sent it at Syuusuke. It hovered over the infant's body for a few seconds before slowly engulfing him and then dissipating. Once it was all gone, Syuusuke stopped crying and fell asleep, so suddenly the queen thought he might have stopped breathing. With one last cackle, there was another crack of thunder and Echizen vanished, leaving the guards the king had sent after him staring bewildered at the spot where he had been standing just moments before.

Silvery tears ran down Queen Yoshiko's face as she held her son tightly, she herself wrapped in the arms of her husband. What would happen if young Masaharu died also? She would never forgive herself, that's what. Why hadn't there been something she could do? Why had no one warned them?

Wait.

"Seer Yumiko," she called, her head snapping up to look for the elusive woman, "Where are you hiding? Why could you not give us any indication that something of this magnitude would happen? We let you come and go as you please, but this is a betrayal of our trust. If Prince Masaharu dies—"

Yumiko stepped out of the shadows, shaking her head. "There are some things I may not tell you, My Queen, whether I see them clearly or not. There are certain things that must be allowed to come to pass. I am sorry My Queen, but I have told you this before also."

"And even if she had seen this, for surely Echizen's power would have blocked some of her Sight if not all of it, we would not have allowed her to tell." Oishi said, still holding onto Kikumaru, "there are restrictions on those with the Sight, and if they do not want it warped, they must obey."

"Masaharu isn't dead, nya," the smaller faery said, meeting the queen's eyes, "and neither is Syuusuke. There is one faery still left to give his gift, he can help your son, and we can help Masaharu."

"There is?" Yoshiko asked, her eyes opening with hope, "could he really save Syuusuke? But, wait… we did not invite another faery, is he mad too? We did not know of his existence, and Lord Inui never informed us."

"Yeah," the pale Akutsu growled, surprising everyone that wasn't of the Fae, for he was not someone that spoke often, "but it's okay, he's a friend of mine, I guess. I brought him here as my guest, I hope you don't mind. He's finished his training a little while ago, and wanted so see us work first-hand or something." He rolled his eyes, "he's a bit shy though, so you probably wouldn't have even known if this hadn't happened. He used to really look up to Echizen before this, so this came as a bit of a shock to him."

Kawamura had walked over to Akutsu, and looked at his shoulder. "Oh! I didn't know he was here, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" He exclaimed, "that's really cool! Aww, he still has the band you gave him."

"Hey, Danny," Akutsu said, also looking at his shoulder, "you should come out now. We need your help." Though his voice was gruff, everyone could hear a faint amount of tenderness under the surface, "you don't have to worry, they're not gonna be mad at you."

A small faery poked his head out from behind Akutsu's shoulder. He was still in his chibi form, and looked around shyly at all the people staring at Akutsu. His shaggy hair was held back by a green headband, which he kept having to push out of his eyes. His eyes were wide and doe-like, and he had one hand buried in Akutsu's hair, presumably helping him keep himself in place on the large faery's body.

"Hi Dan," Yumiko whispered softly, "I'm Yumiko, you might have heard of me before. We're happy to have you, but you need to be in your other form to cast big magic. You're safe here, little one." Dan looked around once again before nodding. He closed his eyes before his form was surrounded by a golden glow, and golden sparkles that swirled around him.

When the light faded, he stood next to Akutsu, one hand holding onto Akutsu's shirt and the other fisted near his mouth like a lost child. And that wasn't that much of an inaccurate description, as the top of Dan's head only reached Akutsu's waist, and he really wasn't sure where he was.

"Your Royal Majesties," he began, bowing to the king and queen of Fuji, "I apologize for showing up like this at your celebration, desu. I hope you can forgive me, I did not mean to cause ripples, desu, but thank you for allowing me to stay. Lord Echizen was once my idol, and maybe I can help make up for this tragedy."

"That's not what matters. Can you save him?" the king and queen asked, hopefuly, "can you remove Echizen's curse?"

Dan shook his head. "Ano… as my friends probably told you, Echizen is too strong for any of us to remove his curse individually, and the laws that bind us prevent us from granting more than one gift to a child, desu," he looked down sheepishly. The royal couple handed their child over to the faery, who proceeded to rock him gently back and forth. "But I can make it so that he doesn't die and doesn't experience pain either, desu. I—I can lessen the curse a bit." He reached behind him and pulled out his golden tennis racquet, which he transformed into his golden wand, and gave to Syuusuke, whom he had woken, to hold before he began.

"Oh he's so cute!" Kikumaru squealed, glomping onto a shocked Dan, "he's so small and adorable! I remember when we were that size!" He would have begun to poke and prod at the small faery, had a warning growl from Akutsu not caused him to freeze.

"Off." Akutsu barked, and Kikumaru shot away from the boy as if he had been burned.

"Nya, sorry, sorry," he hurried to say, holding up his hands and letting out a short laugh.

"I'm small because my magic isn't so powerful, Kikumaru," Dan said wryly, "and I'm more comfortable this way, desu." He turned back to the newborn Prince and began his spell.

"_Spirits of Day and beings of Night,_  
_Patrons of Darkness and creatures of Light;_  
_Warriors of peace and guardians of wars_  
_Release the Fates, undo the stars,_  
_Turn back time, and hear my plea,_  
_Erase this blight– so mote it be!"_

Syuusuke cooed as the sparkles erupted from the end of Dan's wand, much stronger and brighter than any of the faeries' before. Dan closed his eyes in concentration, as he turned his thoughts outward to Yumiko. _"What do you see, desu?"_ he asked her, speaking in her mind only, smiling as he heard her response.

"_I see peace, I see life, I see darkness and light, and I see a castle of thorns. But most of all, I see love. All hope is not lost, Lord Dan. I give you all my power to help."_ She walked over to the faery and placed her hands on his shoulders. Dan nodded.

"_My gift to you, my prince, is thus: you shall not die, but only sleep, to lie in wait in sheltered keep. If spindle shall your finger prick, to enter into Life's great trick; dead to all, yes, you shall seem; at peace you'll be, alive in Dream. In sheltered walls to lie in wait, the flow of time depends on Fate. How many years one cannot tell, in slumber remained within this spell. And if you indeed the curse shall take, with true love's kiss the hex will break. Yet if first light of morning come and this prince still alive in sun, with you awake to gaze on all – be darkness gone, be evil done._"

Dan opened his eyes, noticeably drained, as was Yumiko, and quickly handed the little prince over to his parents so he wouldn't drop him. Once he was sure Syuusuke's parents had a good hold on their son and he had his wand back in hand, Dan promptly passed out, only Akutsu's quick reflexes catching him before he hit the floor.

"Thank you Akustu, desu," he whispered, looking up at the man who held him. Akutsu only grunted in response, looking anywhere but the boy.

"You didn't need to make it rhyme, squirt."

"I know, desu, but rhyming makes a spell more powerful, remember?"

Akutsu only grunted again, and everyone else was silent.

"We can help Prince Masaharu," Oishi said finally, speaking to the kings and queens of Niou, Tezuka and Fuji, "but we need to take him and raise him with the Fae, with us, for a while. We can heal him, though that will take time, but to cleanse his body of the magics that Echizen forced upon him would take even more time; maybe more than ten whole years, I can't tell." Oishi shook his head in resignation, "I'm so sorry, but it's the only thing we can do to save him."

Kunimistu, who held his dead-to-the-world friend in his arms, looked up at the faeries with tears in his eyes. "But you can save him," he asked, "you wouldn't let him die, would you?" the faeries turned to the small boy at this, and Kawamura, the gentlest of all of them, kneeled down next to Kuminitsu, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We can," he replied softly, "but we would have to take him with us. He cannot stay in your world and survive. It would mean losing your friend for most of your childhood." The boy thought about this for a little while before nodding.

"I know it's not my decision, but I would rather have my friend alive and well yet not be able to see him, than knowing it was my stubbornness that caused him to die," he paused, "and I'll still get the chance to see him again once he gets all better."

Kawamura smiled down at him, "that's right, Kunimitsu, you would still get to see him once he gets all better."

"From the mouth of babes…" murmured one of the royals, "this child is wise beyond his years, Kuniharu, he will be a great man someday." Kuniharu, the king of Tezuka, grunted in agreement.

The Queen of Niou stepped forward, and all the Faeries could see where the young prince had gotten most of his features from, and approached the faeries. She held her dress daintily in her hands and curtseyed slightly before them.

"If I let you take my son," she began, "will you promise to care for my Masaharu as if he were your own? I would not let him die, but I would not have in grow up in a place without love either. And I want him back once he is healed. I can still have more children, but he is our heir."

"You wouldn't have to worry about that, my lady;" Oishi hurried to say, "the birth of an infant is so rare for the Fae, that all children are treated like precious stones. I give you my word that I would raise Prince Masaharu as if he were my own. But as for returning him, we would have to give him his own choice, as no Fae can truly force a human to do anything short of using their magic."

"Your majesty, if I may," Yumiko put in softly from where she was leaning on Kaidoh's shoulder, "I do see one thing in your son's future, should this be the path you take…" she waited until the queen gave her the nod to continue, "your son will find love, and I see an unexpectedly long amount of time spent with Prince Syuusuke, though the baby prince will find his own future, but you must agree that you will not judge your son based on the person he chooses to be his other half. You must not arrange a marriage for Prince Masaharu, but rather let him find love on his own. The Fae are very protective of their young, as they said, and if what I see comes to pass, they will defend the prince to their last breath, and if you retaliate it could result in a war."

"This is true," Inui affirmed, putting one of his notebooks away for the moment, "and I would not doubt what the Seer Yumiko sees, as she has a gift greater than anyone I have ever known."

"Thank you Inui," Yumiko replied, placing a hand to her heart as she looked at the floor in a rare show of humility, "coming from you that is one of the greatest honors I could receive." With word to Kaidoh, he gently placed Yumiko against the wall before walking over to the rest of the faeries.

"We are sorry that something like this had happened, but we will be back to make sure everything is going right," Oishi said, "Until we meet again."

Queen Niou bid her son a tearful farewell as Oishi took Masaharu into his arms, already glowing as he began to heal the young prince with his magic. Momoshiro and Kawamura together held Dan and as a group they all lifted into the air and began to glow with a soft light. Their wings beating fast, the glow grew brighter until everyone in the hall had to look away. Once the light cleared and everyone could see again, the eight faeries were gone.

oOoOo

A few years past since the tragedy of Prince Syuusuke's gift ceremony, and the Queen of Fuji once again found herself to be with child. Instead of doing what most of the nobles expected and banning all spindles from their country and burning them, they only banned them from the castle; waiting until the prince was old enough to understand, before beating it into his head every day and night that he was never to touch a spindle, so that should he ever come across one he would know to stay clear of it. It was in the lull between the birth of their second child, who was to be named Yuuta, and his christening ceremony that Yumiko appeared before the queen, with Dan and Inui in attendance, with disparaging news. Akutsu stood at the doorway silently with his arms crossed, watching over the smaller faery.

"Are you sure?" Yoshiko asked, shocked, "there is no other way?"

"I have seen it in the fire," Yumiko responded somberly, "and Inui has collected it in his data. Lord Echizen's anger has only somewhat been abated, though the invitation to Prince Yuuta's celebration was a major step. Were he to appear and realize the spell that Dan has placed on Syuusuke to lessen his curse, he would most surely fly into a rage.

"Are you sure?" Yoshiko asked, shocked, "there is no other way?"

"I have seen it in the fire," Yumiko responded somberly, "and Inui has collected it in his data. Lord Echizen's anger has only somewhat been abated, though the invitation to Prince Yuuta's celebration was a major step. Were he to appear and realize the spell that Dan has placed on Syuusuke to lessen his curse, he would most surely fly into a rage."

"I'm sorry my queen," Inui continued, "We are also afraid that if Echizen finds out about what Dan did to his curse he will add on to it. He might make it so that Syuusuke will never truly wake up, or something even worse." Inui sighed, flipping though his notebook, "we have calculated that Syuusuke's best chances of survival would be if we spirited him away before Prince Yuuta's christening, and raised him until we are sure the time span for the curse has passed. We would keep him safe and hidden and you wouldn't have to worry. Excessively."

"He wouldn't be alone," Dan reminded the queen, "Prince Masaharu is still with us, desu, so he wouldn't want for a companion."

There was a long moment of silence where the queen just sat and stared at the baby she held in her arms. "Do we have your permission, my queen?" Yumiko asked, "I would be able to be in contact with them over the years."

"Thirteen years," Yoshiko said finally, "Syuusuke is over four years old right now, and Echizen's curse is supposed to take affect the year he turns seventeen, so I want my son back by the time he turns eighteen. That means that in thirteen years from now you must return him to me."

"Whatever," Akutsu broke in, ignoring Dan's shocked; "Akutsu, be polite, she's the queen, desu!" and Inui's muttered; "Ii data." He took a few steps forward, "as long as you agree now, we're fine."

"Yes, Akutsu," Yoshiko said, turning to face him, though her eyes remained closed, "but it would do you good to remember who rules here."

"Of course, your majesty," the three of them chorused, Akutsu after being elbowed discreetly by Inui, bowing to her before the three faeries vanished from the room, leaving Yumiko there alone with the queen.

"You knew," Yoshiko said to Yumiko, not really stating it as a question.

"Yes." Yumiko replied, "but it was not certain, and so I could not warn you. Echizen will learn of what they did, and he will be angry, but by removing the prince from the direct path of danger, his retaliation shall be greatly lessened."

"I understand somewhat," the queen sighed, "but this is what's best for my son, and so I must."

"Everything shall all be resolved in the end," Yumiko said cryptically, "maybe even better than we hoped." And with that, Yumiko curtsied to Yoshiko before they both lapsed once more into silence.

oOoOo

Oishi kneeled in front of Prince Syuusuke with Kikumaru standing by his side. The prince looked with wide eyes as the faery with the strange hairstyle spoke to him, and explained what was going to happen to him for the next chunk of his life. He had said goodbye to his parents and baby brother, and was waiting for them to begin.

"We won't erase your memories of the first four years of your life; only suppress them," Oishi said slowly, "when the time is right, you will recall everything, but until then we will raise you as a commoner. No one may know who you truly are, and we will have to change your name. Do you understand prince?"

"I understand," Prince Syuusuke replied, "if mother, father and Yumiko-nee trust you, then I trust you too."

Oishi nodded to signal he was ready, and closed his eyes. He waved his hand across Syuusuke's face once, and the prince's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell asleep, falling to the floor. "The next time you wake up little prince, you won't remember anything," Oishi whispered as Kikumaru picked the boy up, "all you'll know is us." He stood up and watched the redheaded faery rock Syuusuke gently.

"Living as mortals," Kikumaru said finally, breaking the silence, "can you imagine it? All of us together without our magic, Inui is going to go nuts having to collect data normally."

"Do you think we can do it? Live like mortals and still be good guardians, I mean. Humans have so many limits." Oishi walked over to Kikumaru and wrapped an arm around his shoulders; "can we be the type of parents they need, even like this?"

"I trust you Oishi," Kikumaru replied, leaning into the other faery's touch and resting his head on Oishi's shoulder, "you're the most nurturing and caring of all of us, and if anyone can do it, it's you. And you're forgetting, that as Fae we also had limits and rules we had to follow, rules that will no longer apply in this self-imposed exile. Now that we're going to be living as mortals, we can finally be together truly"

"Together? You mean—?"

"Yeah," Kikumaru said shyly, blushing as he looked down at the child in his arms, "we can finally be bonded. It's permitted for morals, even magical ones, whereas it was forbidden for faeries. Not only in spirit, but in flesh too. We won't have to hide anymore."

"Thank you Eiji," Oishi whispered, hugging him tighter and pressing a kiss to his temple. "Thank you, for everything."

"I'd do anything for you Oishi," Kikumaru hummed, feeling true happiness for the first time since the prince of Fuji had been curse those years ago. The two were silent together for a few moments before silently calling out to the rest of the faeries, and all of them left the castle to take the prince into hiding.

**TBC…**

yes, all the guy _are_ fairies... snerk... XD :is bane!kicked:

Please review! all comments are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used to, I dunno... toast marshmallows or something...

two last things: 1. I will NEVER just abandon a fic unless I explicitly say so, so even if I do't update for a while, don't consider it dead, and  
2. I also post stuff on my livejournal (link under "homepage" in my ff profile), under the username iceshade, so you can check there also for stuff, as I will most likely post there first

**thank you in advance! **


	2. Chapter 1

**The Sleeping Prodigy** by me (alternatively known as iceshade or demon m-chan depending on which site this is being posted on) **Part 2 of ?**

**Warnings:** same as before  
**Rating:** PG-13 (for this part)  
**Pairings:** TezukaFuji, hints of Golden Pair, AkustuDan, Platinum Pair (YagyuuNiou) among others  
**Disclaimer:** Konomi-sensei is a genius; he created PoT. I did not, though I would like to be a genius, and I would have added more canon yaoi.  
Also, I take elements from the "original" _and_ Disney versions of Sleeping Beauty, as well as some indirect influences from Dennis L. McKiernan's Once Upon a Summer's Day (I don't own _them_ either)

**IMPORTANT note:** I mention the characters in the western way, (given name, family name) but refer to them by the name you are most likely to know them by, usually the family name. Also, their last names in this type of fic are not actual family names, but closer to a title i.e., Lord Tachibana is really Lord Kippei of the Tachibana provinces/lands/fiefs/etc. but I call him Lord Tachibana and Prince Niou (or just Niou) is really Prince Masaharu of the Niou Kingdom…  
_PLEASE read my notes from the prologue also. An addition here is that I may use some honorifics even though the characters aren't Japanese. Please just deal, I don't go overboard with the fangirl-ness. And they have glasses, even though they don't exist yet, flameflameflameOMGRAWRSPAZflame get over it, it's a tiny anachronism. Thank you _

Major thanks to akarisama and ficfaery (on LJ) for helping me with all the issues I had with formatting, and thanks to SurLaLune Fairy Tales from where I got the most original, translated version of Sleeping Beauty, and thank you, of course, to everyone who has reviewed so far

_(Fuji calls Niou, "N_**ii**_ou" because it's a combination of Niou and nii -san, and Niou _is_ like his big brother in ways…)_

oOoOo

_About twelve years later:_  
Lord Hiroshi, heir-apparent of Yagyuu, looked around as he heard muffled laughter come from the bushes nearby once again. He sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose, choosing to ignore it rather than get mad in favor of studying the possessions laid out buy the merchant, at whose cart he was browsing. He had just noticed a small but beautiful, deep blue ribbon that would be good for tying a certain someone's hair back – as well as looking nice – when a squirrel jumped out of the bushes and sat down by his foot and began chattering to itself. Prim and proper to all appearances; his hair parted neatly to the side, his clothes immaculate and wrinkle-free and ever the gentleman, Yagyuu got the merchant's attention and paid for the ribbon – not really paying attention to the squirrel – when the small, furry thing walked even closer and crawled up his leg.

Yagyuu tried to brush the animal off himself to no avail, as the squirrel opened his mouth to drop a note on his shoe and proceeded to bite him. With a strangled yell, Yagyuu knocked the creature to the ground, glaring at it as he picked up the note. The squirrel cocked his head and looked at him silently, before dashing up his leg once more to grab the ribbon in Yagyuu's hand and run off into the bushes. Muttering curses under his breath, Yagyuu followed the stupid animal into the forest, stuffing the note into his pocket and forgetting it in his annoyance.

Normally it wouldn't have been hard at all for the young lord to catch a squirrel, but it not only did it have a head start, but it had climbed up a tree and was making its way through the forest by jumping from branch to branch. Yagyuu was fast, but he was not good at climbing trees, and his clothes, though casual, were still befitting those that of the heir to the Yagyuu Duchy, and were not made for climbing in.

He rolled his eyes as the squirrel finally slowed down, and he too slowed his pace. However, he was watching the squirrel's path and not his own, barely keeping an eye out to not run headlong into a tree, and so did not see right away the person who suddenly stepped out into his path, unaware of his chase.

_What hit me?_ Yagyuu wondered as he sat up, brushing himself off and searching for his glasses. He had managed to try and stop before he tackled the person he had run into, but his forward momentum had still carried him enough that they crashed into one another, and both fell to the ground. Finding his glasses, he wiped them off before putting them back on and looking around. He hadn't gotten a good look at the other, and was horrified to notice it was a young woman, no – girl, who also seemed to be slightly dazed. She could not have been more than twenty summers old by the looks of it.

He hurriedly stood up and offered the lady his hand in assistance, and she took it gratefully. She smiled at him, and the first thing Yagyuu noticed about her was that her eyes were still closed. He stumbled over an apology, which the maiden waved off, brushing her skirt off once she was standing.

"It's okay," she said softly, "I wasn't really watching where I was going. But, do you by any chance know where my basket flew?" There was a chattering from above, and the lady looked up at the tree above them, before turning to her left and looking down. Though really, her eyes stayed closed the entire time, so she more just moved her head in different directions, while Yagyuu was left to wonder how she could see anything. "Ah, there it is." She kneeled down and picked up her lined basket that had landed by the tree's roots.

As soon as she touched the basket, a shrill chattering noised filled the air, and a gray-brown blur pulled streaked down the trunk of the tree and up the girl's arm. It tugged on her hair, most of which was pulled back into a single braid – though the locks framing the side of her face were loose and only reached her chin, as it got the lady's attention. The same squirrel that had been tormenting Lord Yagyuu before, now sat on her shoulder squeaking and chattering loudly. It waved its paws around its head wildly, gesticulating and pointing at him as the lady just listened and nodded. Yagyuu felt a small surge of anger when he saw that the animal no longer held the ribbon he had bought before.

"My friend here tells me that you threw him," the girl said to him, "and that you were chasing him. But Chip does tend to exaggerate, so I wonder what the real story is…"

"I'm sorry Miss," Yagyuu began, "but he attacked me first. Speaking of, since he so obviously listens to you, would you mind asking him to give me back the ribbon I bought at the merchant cart? It was a present for someone special." _I can't believe I'm arguing with a squirrel_, he thought.

"A ribbon… oh, so that's what Tsubame was talking about. Saa, I can get that for you," she smiled yet again before letting out a few short whistles. A small swallow flew down from the tree above them to alight on her other shoulder, the ribbon in its beak. She thanked the bird as she took the ribbon into her hand, before turning to Yagyuu and holding it out for him to take. Yagyuu just looked at it dumbly for a few seconds before remembering where he was.

"You named your bird, "Tsubame"?" he asked incredulously, as he took the ribbon, "was that a spur-of-the-moment thing, or what?"(1)f

"No, Tsubame is Tsubame," she answered, before her jaw dropped slightly. "Oh my," she exclaimed, bringing a hand up to her mouth, "I never introduced myself, did I? And here I am asking you to explain yourself."

"No, no," Yagyuu replied, "it is my fault. I ran, crashed actually, into you and caused you all this trouble. I must have forgotten all my manners, please forgive me." Yagyuu bowed to her, "I am Lord Yagyuu, heir to the Yagyuu Duchy, and I thank you for your help as well as humbly offer my apologies to any inconveniences I may have caused you."

"Oh please don't bow to me," she protested, "I'm no one that special; I'm just Fujiko… umm, of the Enchanted Forest," she continued after a pause, and curtsied to the young lord.

"Fujiko…" Yagyuu responded slowly, the specific name rang a bell, but he couldn't remember why exactly, "any connection to the Kingdom of Fuji, or just a coincidence?"

"Well my guardians said it's because that's where I was born, and they want me to have some reminder of where I come from," Fujiko answered, still with a smile, "I've never been there, at least in my memory." She shrugged, "it doesn't really bother me."

"I must insist, however, that I pay you back in some way for the inconvenience I've caused you," Yagyuu said firmly, "is there anything I could do to help you?"

"Well…" she paused, pursing her lips as she tapped her chin with her fingernail, "I guess you could do my afternoon chores for me…"

Yagyuu nodded, only half paying attention, as he was still trying to remember where and from whom he had heard the name Fujiko mentioned, when he realized Fujiko had continued and was asking him a question.

"…milord?"

"Ah, I'm sorry, I wasn't really listening, Lady Fujiko, would you mind repeating yourself?"

"Saa, I'm no lady, you don't need to attach extra titles to my name, and I asked you who you got the ribbon for. They must someone very special for you to have gone to all this trouble to get it back, no? I wonder if it was worth it. Is it for a noble lady perhaps…" she asked slyly, putting a finger to her lips, "one that you are wooing in the high king's court maybe? Hoping to have her think you as more?"

Yagyuu choked at the implications in Fujiko's words, doing a double-take at the smug look on the lady's face before he could find the words to respond. Fujiko, with a simple shrug of her shoulders, had sent Tsubame off again, and was looking at Yagyuu from beneath lowered lashes.

"La—Fujiko," Yagyuu corrected himself, "I, uhh—" he trailed off at first, at a loss for words; "why do you assume that this ribbon is for a noble lady?"

Fujiko was stunned, and her eyes opened up slightly from the shock. "…Milord Yagyuu?"

"Please, if I must break my ingraining and not call you 'lady', then I must insist you call me Yagyuu. And yes, the person I got this ribbon for is not from any noble court, maybe not from any noble family, but… they are the most special person in my life," Yagyuu paused, a small smile on his face, "so I would have to say that, yes, it was worth it." He looked down at the blue strip in his hands fondly, twisting it around his fingers as he spoke.

"Awww, Hi-ro-shi," a drawling voice came from the trees behind him, dragging out every syllable of the young lord's name, "that's so sweet, I didn't know you cared." Yagyuu's eyes widened behind his glasses, and he spun around so fast Fujiko thought he might fall over.

Leaning against one of the trees as if he hadn't a care in the world, was a tanned young man with slivery-white hair tied back in a short tail, his clothes those of a commoner or woodsman, and brown boots that reached mid-shin. He was smiling broadly, his teal-colored eyes(2) sparkling with laughter, and there was another squirrel sitting on his shoulder. His shirt was laced only half of the way up, revealing a hard, toned chest that was also tanned, and his arms were crossed loosely in front of himself.

The man cocked his head to the side, acknowledging their presence, and Fujiko's smile grew even bigger. She strode over to him, opening her arms to him as she did so, before wrapping them around his waist.

"Niiou is here," she called out, leaning her head against his chest; "I was wondering what took you so long." Her smile grew even bigger as she hugged him.

Niou wrapped his arms around Fujiko in return, "I couldn't leave you alone here," he responded tenderly, "what would you do without me?"

"Live an incredibly boring life," Fujiko replied, and Yagyuu's eyes narrowed as he remembered from whom he heard the name 'Fujiko'. But before he could say anything, Fujiko continued, "I also wouldn't know how to steal a lord's money purse."

Yagyuu's heart skipped a beat as he saw that in Fujiko's hand was his money purse. He was rooted to the spot, and his jaw dropped marginally as he tried to think of something to say. Seeing Fujiko there, and how close the two were, twisted something in his chest. Haru — no, Fujiko had called him, what was it, Niou? — Haru was always sweet to him, though he had a semi-twisted sense of humor, but maybe he was reading it all wrong. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the pair of them.  
"Haru," he began, "I got the point. Your Fujiko is a lovely girl, and I would appreciate if you would not teach all of your friends to steal from the nobility, not everyone appreciates your games. Now please give it back milady."

Niou gave the lord a questioning look, as he rested one of his hands on Fujiko's shoulder. He seemed to find something that he was looking for in Yagyuu's demeanor, and his grin faltered. He squeezed Fujiko's shoulder in reassurance.

"Aww," Fujiko pouted, "he's calling me by the titles again; he must be maad."

"Maybe, Fujiko," Niou drawled, apparently over whatever had distressed or unnerved him; "or maybe he just doesn't know how to have fun." He leaned over to whisper in Fujiko's ear; "run on my signal. I'll delay him just a little bit, but he's gonna chase you. Keep an eye out for others."

Fujiko nodded, her braid bobbing behind her. She placed a dainty hand on top of Niou's as she turned to look back up at him. "I trust you."

"Never doubted it," Niou replied, and Yagyuu felt the twisting ache in his chest once again. He realized that yet gain he had missed what was right in front of nose the entire time and had misread the signs. The two of them were obviously very close.

He sighed, stuffing the ribbon into his extra belt-purse, the one that Fujiko hadn't taken. He couldn't hear what the two had been whispering, but knowing Haru, he was probably planning something else with the girl, and if he were really lucky, maybe he could convince the trickster to end this trick sooner than planned.

"Haru," Yagyuu began, as Niou disentangled himself from Fujiko, placing himself in front of her protectively. He could feel a headache forming once again—Niou tended to have that effect on him; "Haru, what's the point of this? Fujiko is lovely, yes, but there is no need to torture me also."

"Aah, but didn't you get my note?" Niou asked slyly, as he stepped closer to Yagyuu, "I thought I sent you a note. It hurts me that you don't read my letters."

"That was _you_ who sent that stupid squirrel at me?" Yagyuu raised a perfect eyebrow in annoyance, "I'm sorry Haru, but once it tried to get in my pants I kind of forgot about anything it was holding and was more focused on getting it off me."

"So next time I'll deliver the message and try and get into your pants myself," he grinned, stepping into Yagyuu's personal space and running a finger down his arm, "is that okay with you?"

Yagyuu choked as he tried to come up with a reply to Niou's flirtation, glad that his glasses reflected the light and hid his eyes from the other boy. _What is Haru doing? Fujiko is right here. What does he want from me?_ He took a step backwards, away from Niou.

Niou made a gesture with his other hand behind his back, and Fujiko took off like a shot, jumping up and back and disappearing into the woods like the ninja that Yagyuu had seen once at the royal palace. As Yagyuu made to follow her, Niou smoothly stepped in front of him, blocking his way with the ever-present grin on his face.

"Ah ah ah," he said, waggling his finger in front of Yagyuu's face, "you didn't read my note; I'm quite sad. You wouldn't be in this predicament if you had paid attention to it. Silly Yagyuu."

"Look, Haru, I don't have time for your games now, and I don't appreciate what you're doing here," he clenched his fists as he fought to remain calm. "Let me go."

"Just read the note and I'll leave you alone, okay?" Niou replied, without a hint of humor in his voice, "I'll leave you alone and let you go after Fujiko. But don't worry, she means no harm."

Yagyuu narrowed his eyes slightly at the sad tone Niou's voice had taken on, before digging into his spare belt-purse (with the ribbon in it) for the note he had crumpled up inside before. Finding it, he smoothed it out before reading it. And then rereading it to make sure he was seeing it correctly.

With a growl, he crushed the note in his hand before turning to Niou to do the same to his neck, but the trickster had disappeared. Feeling his eye-twitch coming back yet again, he threw the piece of paper to the forest floor before running in the direction Fujiko had.

Niou on the other hand sat on a hidden on a high tree branch looking down at Yagyuu. His breath came out in a whoosh as Yagyuu ran off, and the battered slip of paper fluttered to the ground. It landed face up, so that anyone who walked by could read it.

"_don't trust anyone from the Enchanted Forest."_

It read, and Niou sighed as he jumped down to retrieve it. He hoped Fujiko was okay. Hopefully by the time Yagyuu caught up to her he would have calmed down enough for her to be able to explain herself to him. Niou could admit to himself that it wasn't nice what he did to Yagyuu, but he was tired of flirting with the man and getting nowhere. At least Fujiko had been able to get some information out of him, and the purse thing was to take Yagyuu's mind off it. It seemed that at this rate, he would be watching Lord Yagyuu walk down the aisle with some nobleman's daughter without ever getting a chance himself. Any attention he could get from the duke was cherished.

Niou sighed at the thought before taking off after Fujiko and Yagyuu himself. Whatever feelings Yagyuu had for him, they would be able to deal with them after all this.

oOoOo

"Higuma!(3)" Fujiko yelled out as she ran along the edge of the forest, zigzagging through the trees and doubling back a few times. She wasn't allowed outside the forest and didn't know how long Niou would be able to stall for her, so she wanted to make the most of the time she did have. "Higuma!"

A brown grizzly bear burst out of the trees in front of her, and bent down. Fujiko hopped on his back holding onto his shoulders to stabilize herself. She murmured soothing words into his ears, apologizing for doing this to him as she scratched the back of his neck. Higuma just let out a low growl in response, and Fujiko's smile returned. Apparently she had been given gifts from faeries at her naming, or so she was told, and one of the gifts the faeries had given her as a baby had been super-intelligence and understanding; as a weird side effect, she could understand and speak the language of animals near-perfectly, and she knew that Higuma was happy to see her safe.

Suddenly Higuma came to a halt, baring his teeth as he reached a paw up to protect the girl on his back. His hair stood on end as he looked around carefully.

"What is it Higuma?" Fujiko asked softly, noticing that all the birds had also gone quiet, "who is it?" She slid off the bear's back to make a smaller target of the two of them, and also looked around. She went completely still as she heard the whiny of horses and the crunch of leaves and sticks under their hooves as they came closer.

Her uncles told her that in the past the Enchanted Forest had been a favorite spot for poachers, thieves, and hunters, but once her uncles had taken up residence there, they had chased them away. The only person who ever visited them from the outside world was Yumiko, on occasion, and now more recently, Lord Yagyuu, but even Niou never brought him all the way to their home. As such, Fujiko had little or no contact with those outside her strange family, and Yagyuu was the first person she had ever met that wasn't a part of her family and lived in the outside world.

Fujiko let out a bird-caw that asked whether the approaching riders were friend or foe, and was answered with a responding caw that meant "three riders, armed". She turned to Higuma with fear in her electric blue eyes, which were fully open for once. Armed men in the forest were never a good sign.

It took a little work, but she managed to convince Higuma to hide himself, promising him that if she needed help he could come out and help her. She could handle herself, and didn't want to lose a friend for his skin to a bunch of hunters just because of her. If there really was a danger, she could always run; besides, Niou must have been close by at this point, and worse came to worst, than she could always do her lost, innocent maiden routine again and call Higuma while the riders were distracted.

She mused up her hair and rubbed some dirt on her skin (her dress was already slightly dirty from the incident with Yagyuu before), before quietly poking her head around the trees to see the men. To her surprise, she didn't see three men, only four horsed tethered to some trees and mulling about, with just one man watching them.

Like Lord Yagyuu, the man was very well dressed, his clothes finer than anything Fujiko had ever seen before. The horses were also well-groomed, and saddled with obviously expensive gear, but what Fujiko was most focused on, was the lack of weapons or armor on any of the horses. In fact, the only weaponry the man seemed to posses was a long sword belted to his waist and within easy reach. The man was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree as he read a book, seemingly without a care in the word.

So intent was Fujiko in studying this strange, black-haired man with a spot on his forehead and trying to determine if he was really a threat, that she never heard the other man creep up behind her until she felt his blade at her throat. A strong hand grabbed one of her wrists and bent it up behind her back. Swallowing thickly, Fujiko didn't say anything or even move, hoping that her throat wouldn't be slit if she remained as non-threatening as possible.

"Scream and I'll kill you, right here," he warned her as she opened her mouth. Fujiko could feel his breath, hot against her ear, and shut her mouth, plastering the smile back in place.

In a split-second the blade was removed from her neck, Fujiko was spun around to face her captor, and the sword was placed back against her throat. He leaned in close in order to intimidate her, but Fujiko kept her eyes as slits. Anything else the man might have said was lost to Fujiko as she found herself staring into the most beautiful pair of eyes she had ever seen and gasped.

oOoOo

The scene that Yagyuu came upon was more or less the same as it had been a few minutes ago when Fujiko had been caught, except another man had joined the two of them. The second man was circling Fujiko, while the first, though he still held Fujiko at sword-point, glanced up to see who was there, the sunlight glinting off the lenses of his glasses. The second man had Fujiko's basket in his hands and was rifling through it. Surveying the scene, Yagyuu skidded to a stop and bowed low.

"Your Highness," he exclaimed, "what are you doing here?"

Fujiko's eyes opened wide as she realized who was holding her captive.

"Looking for you," the prince responded, not releasing Fujiko, "and we came across this girl here. I believe she has something of yours."

"That's all of it, Tezuka," the second man said, tossing Yagyuu's purse up and down in his hand, "she's got nothing else of value on her that might have been stolen."

Prince Tezuka relaxed his grip on Fujiko a little, moving his sword enough away from her neck so she could speak. "Why did you take my friend's purse?" he growled, "what motive did you have for stealing? What is your business here?"

"I was going to give it back," she responded sweetly, her smile back in place again, "it was a harmless little prank to get him to loosen up—"

"Mind your manners around your prince," the other man barked, interrupting her, and Fujiko could barely contain a wince at the bright colors he was wearing. He tossed Yagyuu's purse to him.

"It's okay Chitose," Tezuka responded, "let her speak. It doesn't seem like she's a city-girl anyway. Her accent is strange; she might even be from a different country. Where are you from?" he directed the last part of what he was saying at Fujiko, stepping back to see what she would do, knowing that if she tried to run either Chitose or Tachibana—who was still by the horses—would catch her.

Fujiko fell to her knees and bowed low to the ground respectfully. "I'm so sorry your highness," she murmured, the whole time her brain working rapidly to figure a way out of this mess, "I just want my basket back. I have never been to a city in my whole life, and…" she trailed off noticing he prince was glaring at her, and her heart skipped a beat. It wasn't normal, what she was feeling in her chest; she had never felt this way before, but she knew that she just couldn't tell the prince where she was from, and hopefully Niou had told Yagyuu enough that he would know not to open his mouth. Luckily, Fujiko was spared from having to answer anything else by a brown blur that jumped into the clearing with a roar.

_Higuma!_ Fujiko's heart leapt at the appearance of her furry friend with her brother on his back. Landing on all fours, Higuma bared his teeth as he advanced slowly toward the shocked prince. Niou sat astride the bear with his knife drawn, breathing heavily, and his eyes flashing. Tezuka, Chitose, Yagyuu, and the fourth man, Tachibana, who had burst into the clearing with his sword drawn at the noise, were frozen in shock.

"How could you, Yagyuu?" he cried, "I trusted you! And not only did you put Fujiko in danger, but you invited people into the forest! Him especially!" He pointed at Tezuka with his dagger.

It was as Niou's voice broke the spell, and in a flash Chitose and Yagyuu had drawn their swords, and Chitose, along with Tachibana, advanced toward Higuma in order to protect their prince. Yagyuu was looking at Niou incredulously.

"What are you talking about? I just got here!" he responded, "I have no idea what's going on!"

"Right," Niou snorted as he urged Higuma to stop next to Fujiko, "and she's not really in any danger." Tezuka had backed away from her after Higuma had appeared, and Niou could easily offer her a hand up. Fujiko took it and Niou swung her up onto Higuma's back with him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Who are you?" Tachibana demanded.

"I don't have to answer to you, any of you," Niou said, turning to face Tezuka himself, "we may be in your kingdom, but this forest is _my_ home. You hold no sway here."

"I should gut you," Chitose hissed.

"And my friend would kill you before you could even try," Niou replied, "you can leave this place peacefully, or I can forcibly make you."

"You dare—"

"Stop!" A new voice rang out throughout the clearing. Without lowering their weapons, everyone turned to see a young woman in long robes standing in the shadow of the trees.

oOoOo

_I'm sorry! I didn't mean to end it on such a cliffhanger, but I gave you guys a big hint as to who this new person is!_

**More notes:**  
(1) "tsubame" means "swallow" (as in the bird) in Japanese, and yes, I did take that from Fuji's triple counter "tsubame gaeshi" you'll see later that if I can work it in, Fuji will also have a pet bear named Higuma, and a dragonfish named Haku. All of this is a tribute to Fuji's famous triple counters which could not be included in this fic otherwise. And dragonfish are UGLY fish, let me tell you… so I guess it works with something Fuji would like…  
(2) in most fan-drawn pictures or doujinshi Niou tends to have gold eyes, but in the screencaps, his eyes usually are blue or blue-green. For some reason I think the greenish gold suits him better, something having to do with gold eyes like a fox and me relating the color to slyness (I think), but I compromised b/w the two different colors that appear in the anime, and made his eyes teal  
(3) I assume "higuma" is the word in "higuma otoshi" that means bear

And, yes I know, this part is barely recognizable as a _sleeping beauty_ remake, they just took over and wrote themselves. As you might have noticed, the beginning is more like the original version, the middle is going to be slightly more like the Disney version, will veer back into the original for a small amount of time, and then take on a Disney/McKiernan mix, all the while with my own touches… that and the fact that most of them are male… and gay… and the main character is Fuji… actually, most of this chapter wasn't planned at _ALL_, it just happened…

I'm sorry this took so long, but I've had the first half of my finals, APs, and all sorts of other stuff I've been going through to deal with. The next chapter might also take a while, (because I have more finals, senior project, and graduation within the next month or so) but from then on, I would like to know: would you guys prefer shorter chapters and quicker updates, or longer chapters but slower updates? I can't update that fast, but if you would prefer I could cut the chapter earlier so I can post them sooner…

**Read and Review please! Con-crits are appreciated, flames are not**


	3. Chapter 2

_I told you this wasn't abandoned! And this is close enough to Fuji's birthday that I'm considering it to be in honor of that._

**The Sleeping Prodigy** by Marla (alternatively known as iceshade or demon m-chan depending on which site this is being posted on) **Part 3 of ?**

**Warnings:** same as before, unbeta'd

**Rating:** PG/PG-13 for this part

**Pairings:** TezukaFuji, hints of Golden Pair, AkustuDan, Platinum Pair (YagyuuNiou) among others

**Disclaimer:** Konomi-sensei is a genius; he created PoT. I did not, though I would like to be a genius, and I would have added even more canon yaoi.  
Also, I take elements from the "original" _and_ Disney versions of Sleeping Beauty, as well as some indirect influences from Dennis L. McKiernan's Once Upon a Summer's Day (I don't own _them_ either)

**IMPORTANT note:** I mention the characters in the western way, (given name, family name) but refer to them by the name you are most likely to know them by, usually the family name. Also, their last names in this type of fic are not actual family names, but closer to a title i.e., Lord Tachibana is really Lord Kippei of the Tachibana provinces/lands/fiefs/etc. but I call him Lord Tachibana and Prince Niou (or just Niou) is really Prince Masaharu of the Niou Kingdom…

_PLEASE read my notes from the prologue also._

**Recap: **Oishi, Eiji, Momo, Inui, Kaidoh, Akustsu, and Dan are the good faeries who gave up their immortality to raise Fuji in secret once they healed Niou, (they still don't age); Echizen is the bad faerie who cursed Fuji; and Yumiko is the royal seer of Fuji's family

~oOoOo~

_(Fuji and Niou don't know that their "uncles" are really faeries in disguise, and Oishi was fun to play around with here…)  
_

"Stop!" A new voice rang out throughout the clearing. Without lowering their weapons, everyone turned to see a young woman in long robes standing in the shadow of the trees. As she stepped out of the shadows, everyone recognized who the lady was, even as she lowered her hood.

"Yumiko-nee," Fujiko called out, "why are you here?"

"I came to visit you and your uncles," Yumiko said with a deceptive smile, "and I come upon this. I am ashamed, of all of you." She faced Fujiko and Niou; "you two should know better. Leave now and go back home. If you go now then maybe I won't tell Oishi. It will be dark soon, and you two shouldn't be out here then."

"Milady Yumiko, you misunderstand…" Prince Tezuka began.

"Then I'm sure you'll explain it to me, along with why you were in this forest to begin with—_go!_" she said the last part to Higuma, who left with a whuff; "and you will let them go," she said to Tezuka and his guards, holding out her hand to forestall anything they wanted to say.

As Higuma ambled off, both Niou and Fujiko turned back to get one last look at the young men; Niou at Yagyuu with a sad look in his eyes, and Fujiko at the prince, needing to know more. Niou pulled her close, each taking comfort in the presence of the other.

"I'm sorry Niiou," Fujiko began, "Yagyuu didn't do anything to me, and I don't think he brought the prince and his men to the forest intentionally. Prince Tezuka said that they were looking for him."

"I know he wouldn't do anything you Fujiko," Niou responded, "but he knows how important you are to me, and he could have tried to reason with the prince or something. But I'm glad you're safe."

Higuma let out another "whuff" before stopping and resting on his knees. Niou gave Fujiko a look that said "guess this is our stop", before getting off the bear's back. He reached up to help her down, but she slid off Higuma herself before he could. Niou took her hand anyway after she said her goodbyes to the bear, and together they walked off to their home.

"Think Oishi will be mad?" Fujiko asked, breaking the silence, "think Yumiko-nee will tell them?"

"I think we'll be okay," Niou replied, shrugging, "and my head didn't hurt me once, so they'll probably be happy with that."

"Oh," Fujiko said softly, with a slight frown, "that's good, I guess. I'm happy for you."

"You don't sound it."

"Well, it means you'll have to go back home soon, doesn't it? I mean, your original home."

"If you want me to stay, Fujiko, I'll stay. My birth family has survived more than ten years without me; you're just as much my family as they are, and you don't have anyone else." With his free hand, Niou cupped Fujiko's cheek and smiled reassuringly at her.

"Good," she replied. Fujiko gave Niou's hand a squeeze, and let out a giggle as Tsubame landed on her shoulder and peeped in her ear. She stopped short, causing Niou to look back at her in confusion. Fujiko gulped. "They know," she said softly, "not everything, but they know we brought people into the forest."

Niou swore under his breath, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by another voice growling his name. The two of them looked up to see one of their uncles, Kikumaru, standing only a few feet away wearing with his hands on his hips. He was scowling at them, not caring that he was still wearing only a pink apron (that, surprisingly, _didn't_ clash with his hair) and a pair of pants, and holding a wooden spoon in his fist.

"Saa, I thought Oishi was like our mother, not Kikumaru," Fujiko whispered to Niou, forcing him to crack a weak smile.

"Home. Now." Kikumaru said through gritted teeth, pointing in the direction of the trees that hid their cabin in the forest, "we are going home, _now_, and I'll decide if I want to let Oishi or Akustu deal with you two." He turned around and stomped off.

For an isolated house, it was actually quite large, but considering there were nine people living in it, it seemed like it was much smaller at times. There were three stories accessible floors, (Niou maintained that there was a hidden basement that they hadn't found yet), quite a few bedrooms, and a very spacious kitchen and dining room. Also, considering it was the only home Fujiko and Niou knew, (or remembered, as was more apt in this case) they were happy. The lack of human playmates hadn't even affected them because they had each other, and really, some of their uncles were still like children themselves. Fujiko found friends with the many forest animals, and she and Niou made their own entertainment.

As soon as Niou and Fujiko walked in the door they were greeted by a frantic Oishi who rushed at them his arms spread wide. After giving each of them a bone crushing hug and checking to make sure they were really okay, he boxed both their ears. It was actually funny to watch Oishi do that to Niou, as the silver-haired boy was already taller than the faerie.

"Ow! Oishi, what was that for?" he whined, "I didn't do anything!"

"There were other humans in the forest, and you were with them," Oishi replied, glaring at them, "how many times have I told you to cool it with your pranks? I should have Akutsu beat it into you!"

"Kinky," Niou muttered under his breath, unfortunately Oishi heard it, and proceeded to yell at him again about his responsibilities.

As this was going on, Fujiko tried to sneak into one of the other rooms to escape her overprotective uncle's notice, but instead bumped into a different one. She smiled unashamedly, and Momoshiro, more commonly called Momo, shook his head at her.

"What are we going to do with you, Fujiko?" Momo asked with a sigh.

"Strap me to a chair and force-feed me wasabi?" she suggested hopefully.

"I don't think so," he replied, giving her a push in the direction of the washroom, "now go get washed up. Kawamura is just about done preparing dinner, you're filthy, and the two of you still need to set the table."

"Why are Oishi and Kikumaru extra pissed about what we did today? We do stuff like that all the— yeahhh…" Fujiko trailed off and covered her mouth with a hand.

Momo tactfully ignored her slip-up. "Kikumaru's pissed because you worried Oishi; and not just worried him, you really scared him. And they're both angry because your delightful news interrupted them again today."  
"Oh."

After Niou and Fujiko had walked in on the two of their uncles in bed, naked, and together, wondering what the strange yells and noises had been, the rest of the ex-faeries had nominated _them_ to give the children the "bird and the bees" speech, (modifying it to include their "bees and the bees" section). As it was, everyone knew that the two were together, in every sense of the word, and both Fujiko and Niou knew what sex entailed. A fact which amused Momo and Akutsu and possibly Inui —though he didn't show amusement in a non-sadistic way very well— to no end when they found out how the two had learned.

Once Fujiko and Niou were cleaned up and presentable for the meal, they began to set the table. They chattered away with their Uncle Kawamura and Uncle Dan, who were in the kitchen putting the final touches on their meal, and their Uncle Kikumaru, who was in the adjacent room practicing walking on his hands. Kikumaru had forgiven them for before, figuring correctly that the chewing out they had received from Oishi would be punishment enough.

"Oh, Yumiko-nee is coming," Fujiko said to Kawamura, "do we have enough food?"

"We _always_ have enough food," Kawamura said.

"And we already know," Kikumaru interrupted, "the Forest told us. That's how we knew what you two had done. And you forget about your Uncle Momo; we always have to make extra food when he's eating with us."

"Moron always eats for someone twice his size; I'm always surprised that we never run out of food," their uncle, Kaidoh, said with a hiss as he came in through the side door. He wiped the sweat off his brow with the bandana he normally wore around his head. Kaidoh had been outside exercising, like he normally did before dinner. "I'm going to wash up; call me when Yumiko gets here," he growled as he headed upstairs.

"There's no need to pick a fight with him about everything, desu," Dan called after him.

"To him there is," Kikumaru said under his breath, as he flipped back upright, letting out a yell as Inui appeared suddenly behind him.

"Yumiko will be here in approximately 8 minutes," Inui said, not looking at the green notebook he had out, "I'm going to go upstairs to let Kaidoh know and see what Oishi is doing." And then he was gone, as suddenly as he appeared.

Kawamura just sighed and turned back to the food, and Fujiko and Niou finished setting the table. Akutsu walked into the kitchen and stood behind Dan, wrapping his arms around the boy's small frame. Dan let out a squeak, but didn't try to push the grey-haired man away.

Life was usually like this in their house in the woods; relatively normal (even if the inhabitants were slightly crazy), but domestic; and it had been like that for the many years they had lived there. They liked their seclusion, and the privacy they enjoyed by keeping others out of the forest. It was still too dangerous for Fujiko to venture out into the real world, even though they had warned her against the dangers of spindles and spinning wheels. Echizen still had his magic and his anger, and there was no telling what he might do.

~oOoOo~

"Damnit!" The Great Echizen raged, throwing another object at the walls, and feeling a grim satisfaction as it shattered upon contact; "where is he!? There is no reason they shouldn't be able to find just. One. Little. Prince!"

The Great Echizen, for all his power and conquests, lived in an underground lair somewhere near a volcano, as there was a deep pit in the center that glowed with the molten rock that flowed through it, as did cracks that sometimes appeared along the walls. Though if asked _why_ he chose this semi-cliché place, Echizen would respond that the hot springs naturally located there offset any of the cons to living in an underground death-cave. That, and the magma was also useful for scaring the underlings.

Speaking of underlings…

"Horio! Katsuo! Kachirou!" Echizen yelled out, calling for his minions, "where are you!?"

There were three loud poofs of dark gray smoke from the ground behind Echizen, and three Fae creatures materialized, bowing low to the ground. They murmured their profuse apologies, bowing repeatedly, their voices overlapping.

"Silence!" Echizen yelled again, spinning around with his black cloak billowing behind him, "I did not summon you three back here to hear your pathetic excuses once again. I gave you each companies of Fae and some of my own power to help you find this little upstart of a boy-prince, and the past years have turned up _nothing_! Have you even really been trying? Are you or are you not Trackers!?"

Horio opened his mouth, and Echizen was in front of him in a flash, grabbing him by the lapels of his shirt and yanking him off the ground so they were face to face.

"If you even mention your 'two extra years of Tracking experience,'" he snarled, smoke coming out from between his teeth and clenched fists, "I will incinerate you."

Horio gulped audibly. "I-I w-w-wasn't going t-t'say anything about—about that, m-m-mi-milord, honest," he stammered, and Echizen released Horio from his grip, still glaring at the quivering pixie before him. "I was—I was just going to say that with all the other faeries helping him – begging you pardon milord, not to say that you aren't the _strongest_ faerie – but with so many other faeries working against us, I don't think that the Tracking abilities of the three of us are enough."

"He's right milord," Katsuo, a shadow elf, piped in, "we've been looking everywhere. Everywhere."

"No cradles," Echizen hissed, "no cradles and no nurseries".

"What?" they chorused, "cradles?"

"Do not tell me you have been searching for a baby all these years, or you will all wish you were dead; I guarantee it."

The three Tracker Fae looked at each other and shrugged.

"No milord," Kachirou said hesitantly{1}, "we know that the prince would be reaching his adulthood around now. We have been compensating for that in our search as time goes on."

"…though it would be a brilliant stroke of genius on their part if he was…" Echizen mused, not paying attention to his underlings as he continued to himself, "to hold him in temporal stasis so he wouldn't grow any older until they found a way to break my spell. If he never ages, he never reaches adulthood, and my gift can never come to pass… yes, yes. I didn't think of that, it would break almost all of the rules of non-dark magic, not that that fool Inui ever cared about rules, and if anyone could find a way to do that, _he_ could… and with enough power, yes… they wouldn't be able to keep him in the kingdom, let alone the palace… hmm, Old Nanjiroh would know…" and with that Echizen spun and vanished with a crack of thunder and a cloud of dark purple smoke, leaving the three Trackers kneeling there bewildered.

"Nanjiroh?" Kachirou asked the other two.

"Also known a Chronos, the God of Time and Space," Horio answered, "if anyone was messing with the time stream, as Lord Echizen seems to think, Nanjiroh would know."

"But why would the God tell him that or anything even?" Katsuo asked.

"I have no idea."

The three of them looked at one another in unison, and shrugged again.

~oOoOo~

Dinner in the forest cottage had been a normal affair, Yumiko bringing news of the bordering kingdoms, answering all of the faeries' questions, and entertaining Fujiko and Niou. She had also calmed the faeries down, reassuring them that nothing had happened to their charges. As Fujiko helped her uncles clean the kitchen and dining area, Yumiko pulled Niou aside, out of earshot of the others

"What were you thinking today!?" she hissed, glaring at him; "_were_ you even thinking? There are reasons Fujiko isn't allowed outside the borders of the forest, and one of them is that she isn't allowed to meet strangers."

"I didn't take her out of the forest," Niou protested, "and I wasn't going to, really. They found us."

"And what would have happened had I not shown up then? You're a good fighter, but you're not that good that you could have taken on the prince _and_ his men." Yumiko looked mad enough to spit, and her grip on the teen tightened, her nails digging into his arm; "you also put Higuma in danger today, too."

"Puri," Niou muttered, trying not to wince.

"There is a magic barrier around the forest," Yumiko explained, "magic is weakened within it. Even mine. There is a _reason_ your uncles made the rules they did. No, Niou," she continued as he opened his mouth to protest more, "we care; all of us, about the two of you, but that won't stop me from restraining you with magic if I have to. Think how devastated one of you would be if something happened to the other because of something stupid the two of you were doing."

"I get it, I get it," Niou griped, shutting his mouth when he saw Yumiko's anger flare once again. As much as he wanted to argue his point, and as much as he hated being told what to do, his fear of losing Fujiko (and of being turned into a frog or something by Yumiko) won out. He hung his head after a pause and sighed; "I'm sorry Yumiko-nee, I guess I wasn't thinking."{2}

"Please Masaharu," Yumiko pleaded, shocking Niou by using his full first name, "be careful; if not for your sake, than for hers." By this point her voice had dropped to a whisper, though her grip never slackened; "if you can promise me that, I won't tell Oishi or any of your uncles what you've been doing—and not just today, either."

Just then, Fujiko knocked on the doorframe, poking her head into the room with her ever-present smile on her face. They both turned to look at her, slightly startled by her sudden appearance, as neither of them had heard her approach.

"Ah, Yumiko-nee, may I have a moment of your time please? When you're done?"

"Don't worry about it Fujiko, really," she replied sweetly, "we're almost finished."

Niou caught her eyes once again and mouthed the words "I promise". Yumiko nodded, letting go of Niou's arm, and the boy fled from the room, leaving the two ladies alone. The Seer turned and walked over to the couch in the room, sitting down on it and making herself comfortable. Fuji inched inside, looking at her feet as she did so.

"Come in Fujiko, I'm not going to yell at you," Yumiko said with a laugh.

"It's not that nee-san," Fujiko began, "there's just something personal I have to talk about with you."

Yumiko's breath caught in her throat as Fujiko said these words. She knew what the girl wanted to talk to her about, and there was no way to deter her; she had seen that this conversation would be a crossroads of sorts in Fujiko's life. The laws that regulated the powers of a Seer forbade her from actively interfering in the lives of those affected until they came to her for help, but this would affect more people than just Fujiko, and as such, Yumiko faced a dilemma.

Fujiko sat down next to Yumiko and folded her hands in her lap. They sat together in silence for a few moments, and a bead of sweat trickled down the back of Yumiko's neck as she waited.

"Fujiko…"

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Fujiko burst out, cutting Yumiko off; "I know it sounds silly, but I have to know how real or not real it is."

Yumiko sighed as she debated how to answer. "Would you rather the Seer answer or the big sister answer to that?" she asked with a smile.

"The Seer's answer, please."

"Love at first sight, and I mean True Love here—the kind extolled in storybooks—is a myth. It's something made up by authors and parents and has, to my knowledge, never really existed." Yumiko held a hand up as she continued, "most people that believe in love at first sight have fallen in love with only the other person's exterior, and love, or infatuation, really, based on looks is not true love.

"That's not to say that true love doesn't exist, because I believe it does. There are such things as soulmates also, but like True Love, with capital letters and everything, is very rare. Soulmates have a special bond that transcends even magic, and I would even go so far as to say that the first time they meet, they just _know_. That's the closest you'll ever get to love at first sight." Yumiko let out a laugh, "I know of cases where they have even mistaken the feelings for hate. But they will always find each other if it's possible, and if they don't, they are always reborn over and over again until they do and get their happy ending. Sometimes they're even reborn even if they have found one another in their lifetime and found their happy ending. No one knows how the Gods work."

Fujiko mulled over what the Seer had said in silence, before saying anything else.

"What about you, nee-san? Have you ever loved someone before?"

Yumiko was taken aback; no mortal had ever asked her that question before, and she hadn't thought any would. She smiled sadly and shook her head.

"No, Fujiko," she answered, "I cannot find love. That was what I gave up in exchange for my being a seer. And even if I could, my lifespan would mean that I would have to bury whomever I loved long before my own time came."

"Oh, I'm sorry Yumiko-nee."

"It's fine Fujiko," Yumiko said, waving the comment away, "but here's some advice from a big sister anyways," she tapped Fujiko on the chest; "listen also to what your heart tells you, but don't let it rule you either."

With that, the Seer stood up and left the room, only pausing for a few moments at the doorframe to look back at the girl she had left sitting behind.

"Oh Fujiko," she murmured, too soft to be heard, "if only you remembered; you already _have_ met him once before."

~oOoOo~

_Fujiko blinked as she took in her sudden surroundings. _I must be dreaming, _she thought, _there's no other rational explanation.

_She stood in front of a full-length mirror in a large room empty of anything else, lit by some unseen source, with her back to the door. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, unsurprised at what she saw, now having come to the conclusion that this was all a dream._

_She was dressed in an exquisite blue-and-white ball gown laden with pearls and lace, and her hair was done up in fancy curls atop her head with strings of pearls looping through it. On her feet were soft slippers to match her gown, and her wrists and neck were also decorated with strings of pearl jewelry. In her hands she held a long, wide ribbon, which, even as she looked at it, leaped out up her hands as if bewitched and tied itself around her head, obscuring her eyes. Strangely enough though, she could still see everything, even though her eyes were covered. Then words appeared in the mirror, as if written by an unseen hand. _'Keep your secret'_ it read. _

_But Fujiko didn't have any time to ponder what that meant, for no sooner had this happened, did the door behind her open, and Prince Tezuka— from the forest— appeared there, looking quite confused. Fujiko turned around to face the man and dropped into a curtsy. Not for nothing had her uncles taught her and Niou proper etiquette, (which only furthered her suspicions that Niou was from a highborn family)._

_"Welcome, your highness," she murmured, looking up at him through her lashes and drawing his attention to her._

_"Where am I?" he asked, looking around, "what is this place?"_

_"I don't know," Fujiko admitted, standing up straight again, a smile on her face._

_Just then, soft music began to play from somewhere wrapping around the two of them like a cloak as Tezuka stepped into the room. It was a slow tune; Fujiko noticed wryly, the kind of tune that would be played at a ball._

_"Dance with me please, my lady," Tezuka commanded, his princely nature taking over as he held out his hand and bowed.  
"Mou, it's improper, your highness," Fujiko protested, holding her hand over her mouth in mock shyness. She flitted away from the prince's reach; her skirts rustling as she moved, "I could be anyone. And only a highborn noble should dance with royalty. I am no princess; I am not even a lady; just a common—"_

_"Your appearance says otherwise," Tezuka said, following her, "and it doesn't matter to me anyways. Those are rules only the old nobility follows."_

_"You shouldn't let your guard down, your highness," Fujiko replied, once again twisting away from Tezuka in a dance of her own, "there is much about me you don't know."_

_"And maybe I would like to learn," he countered, "I just need a chance. Doesn't everyone deserve a second chance?"_

_"Would you give me one, your highness, if I've slighted you?" Fujiko teased, finally allowing the prince to come close to her and taking his hands in hers; "would you let even someone like me have a second chance?"_

_"Have we met before?" Tezuka asked, trying to figure out who she was, "I don't recall…" At these words, Fujiko felt her body begin to lighten and fade away, and took a chance._

_"Saa, it's a secret, my prince," she whispered. Leaning her weight on Tezuka's arms, Fujiko stood on her tiptoes and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "Find me."_

_"No, wait," Tezuka called out, feeling the girl in his arms lose substance and begin to disappear, "who are you?" _

_Her smile turned sad at those words, and she shook her head. "Find me," was all she said, again, before disappearing like smoke in the wind._

~oOoOo~

Meanwhile, not too far away, Prince Tezuka awoke and sat up straight in his bed, wondering what had just happened.

"That's not good," he muttered to himself; knowing it would be a while before he would be able to fall asleep again that night.

~oOoOo~

{1} Kachirou is a nymph. I couldn't find any good way to fit that in so I figured I would clarify for anyone wondering. Horio is the pixie, and Katsuo is the elf.

By working for Echizen, who's evil and works with dark magic, it is corrupting their very natures, hence the reason I called Katsuo a _shadow_ elf; at the risk of sounding cliché, its turning them to the Dark Side, and causing them to slowly become Tainted Ones (good Fae that became corrupted with power and/or evil). To me, pixies are inherently tricksters, and nymphs can be vengeful, and more towards the middle of the good/evil-light/dark spectrum, so I didn't specifically describe them with a semi-dark classification, whereas there are so, so many ways to describe elves. Also Trackers (nothing special there, think of them like "Special Ops Fae" or something, with a special training) are inherently a neutral party, which is why even having been directly infused with Echizen's dark power, they haven't turned completely either. Yet. Yeah, it's kind of confusing; if you want, I can explain it more in another chapter…

{2} I know that Niou is OOC here, (and so is Fuji too) but you have to understand that they were raised differently. And I needed to find some way to end the argument without Yumiko doing anything magical to Niou. XD

Well, _that_ took way too long to get written, and I humbly apologize. (actually, I think it's more like shamelessly begging you to forgive me; I'M SO, SO SORRY.) Long story short, I'm in Israel for the year, and I've been having serious computer issues since I left, ranging from having no computer access at all to having a computer but it not working, etc. If you've been following my livejournal at all this year, than you probably knew this already, as that's where I've been putting the whole rant/saga/thing. there's a link in my profile.

ALSO, I don't get back home until the middle of June, so don't expect another chapter of this until then, at least (because then I have some college orientation and staff in-service week _at the same time_, the week after I get back… out of the frying pan and into the fire).

Lastly, I need reviews people! I'm also accepting pairing requests, just know that I'm not breaking up some of the obvious pairings I've already begun to write in, and I think just about all that characters that are going to be in the fic have already been introduced, but I'll see what I can do. Both het and shounen-ai are accepted, but yuri is not, only because there aren't going to be enough girls in this fic (that I haven't planned their parts out yet, i.e. I need to pair them up with someone specific) for it to be possible. Normally I have no problem with it, but it's taking me long enough to write out what I do have planned without adding characters that don't serve any real purpose. Concrit is welcomed as well.

Thank you for reading and staying with me!


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